February 16, 20242 yr #1 Recently acquired a "RH-37 PAL". It got me to wondering why the M3 Fighting knife did not get named the M37 ? After all, the M3 was issued before the M37 bowie knife. Then, the current M37 would be named the M38. The sequence of PAL knives would then be: M34, M35, M36 and M37, and M38. The M4 would not be included because it is a bayonet. I included a photo of the recently purchased RH-37 PAL. The blade is stamped US NAVY on on left side and RH-37 PAL on the right side. Curious if it has the original stamped US NAVY sheath. Thanks for any comments.
February 16, 20242 yr #2 VNAMVET70- Not so complicated. PAL took over the "Remington Hunting" line of knives. Those were categorized by blade length; ie RH 34, 35, 36, 37 etc. The M3 was not a Remington originated knife, but a new comer which followed the US government line of nomenclature, ; ie WW1 Mark 1 Trench knife (which continued service into WW2), M3 trench knife( the government kept the trench knife nomenclature), these were designated with leather handles due to the fact the Mark 1 required a lot of brass for manufacture. Hope this helps. SKIP
February 17, 20242 yr #5 Just to clarify Skip's remarks, Remington did not make a seven-inch fixed blade knife. They made a six-inch knife (RH-36) and an 8-inch knife (RH-38). When PAL bought Remington's blade making tools (January 1941) they moved them and started making the same knives (around June 1941), and they continued to use the same convention, just replacing the DUPONT lettering in the oval between the RH and the XX numbers with PAL (Remington was owned by Dupont at that point). When PAL got a contract in 1943 to make the USMC fighting knife, they just put PAL on one side and USMC on the other. When they got the contract for the Mark 2 knife, they used their logo on one side (RH, PAL in the oval over MADE IN USA, and the number 37) and U.S. NAVY on the other side (the only Mark 2 maker to do so), just continuing the use of the same name convention they used on all their other knives.
February 18, 20242 yr Author #6 thorin6, Thank you for the lucid clarification. Appreciate your contribution to the thread.
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